The Day Picasso Died

That's the dilemma faced by Johhny Jump, part-time cabbie and full-time artist, as he searches for old Virgil, his roommate who may or may not have been kidnapped by a ruthless menagerie of 1960s retreads on the hunt for a missing one million dollars from a deadly 1950s bank heist.

In a frantic 24 hour period set in one day (April 8, 1973), Johnny faces hippie drug dealers, facist weightlifters, Nazi bikers, Mafia hit men, Black Panthers, misanthropic women's libbers, a defrocked activist priest and a gorgeous femme fatale with the monker of Suzy Anger in a desperate balls to the wall chase along the Chicago Milwaukee corridor.

Along the way Johnny discovers secrets about the man he considered to be a harmless old drunk, and with whom he shared a small apartment above a downtown tavern. Was Virgil a member of the Waffen SS during World War Two, a vicious pedophile, Johnny's search for answers leads him a to home sequestered on the Lake Michigan shoreline during a violent spring storm and a spectacuar midnight firefight amongst a gathering of misfits all looking out for number one, and willing to kill whomever stood in their way in their search for the fabled treasure on . . . . . . The Day Picasso Died

Review:"Leonard Palmer's book, based on real events, is not only a good read; it evokes a time and place that seems to fall somewhere between noir and nostalgia, the past and present. A terrific little page-turner."- Michael Schumacher, Author of The Dharma Lion